Nekkid city - yet again!

Submitted by gwolf on Tue, 06/10/2008 - 23:01

After thinking it over a couple of times, I did it. I told you here about the World Naked Bike Ride. Thousands of bikers, in over 130 cities around the world, voiced their concerns about the lack of caution drivers have towards us, about the abuse of fossil fuels for urban transportation, about the easy we are not to be seen. Many among us have been run over by careless drivers (in my case, no consequences except a broken helmet - And yes, MJ: although the impact was on the flat surface of the road and not on the kerb, the strength of the impact still amazes me). We feel naked against the motorized traffic. So, the WNBR decides to show it by taking the streets of our many cities - Naked.
It was a completely different experience of the massive naked Spencer Tunick photo, as we were there not just to show our freedom and enjoy, but to get the people to look at us. There were some of the same elements of comradeship and trust we had there (and, of course, that many of us learnt in Finland when we became GNUdists at DebConf 5's unforgettable saunas).
Anyway... I did not make the full route (I rode Chapultepec-Zócalo-Diana, ~15Km, but missed the Diana-Gandhi-Cibeles part, maybe some 5Km) as I had an appointment I was already late for. But it was a unique, great experience. If you are interested, we got a fair share of press coverage. Oh, and I must say: I am famous now. And in my favorite newspaper, nothing less :).

I will certainly admit that I've seen and heard about many motorists take too little care around pedestrians and cyclists. However, I've also seen far more cyclists who simply don't care about any rules of the road. I regularly see cyclists blast through intersections, ignore traffic signals, cut off motorists, weave through traffic, and otherwise assume they own the road. They assume that they can do whatever they want and motorists need to do all the work of avoiding them. Unfortunately, they seem to assume correctly; if a cyclist causes an accident with a motorist, the motorist would have a hard time proving it, and the presumption of blame seems to automatically land on the motorist.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. Being a cyclist on the road is driving a vehicle, and as such, we should be more than aware we are subject to the same rules the motorists are. Drive in your lane (not zig-zagging, not stuck to the right where other cars are parked, and NEVER on the pedestrian area), pay attention to traffic signs, go in the right direction (never against the lane's flow), etc.
And yes, I have seen many cyclists completely disregard safety and even explicit indications of the authority, with even a superiority expression.
Yes. Cyclists need to be careful and observant.

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